The present invention relates to a vibration testing system comprising a display for indicating remaining service-life and/or consumed service life of a vibration testing apparatus. Another aspect of the invention relates to a corresponding method of determining and displaying the remaining service-life and/or the consumed service life of the vibration testing apparatus.
A vibration testing system typically comprises a vibration test apparatus, sometimes referred to as a shaker, which is employed in industry for the vibration testing of engineered products such as industrial equipment, elements and components. The object of such vibration testing is to expose the industrial equipment or components to well-defined mechanical vibration of the frequency and amplitude to which that industrial equipment may be exposed in normal use. This is carried out to test the response of the equipment to the mechanical vibrations and detect the reliability and ability of the equipment to sustain mechanical vibration without malfunctioning. The industrial equipment or components may come in a wide range of dimensions and weight. Large vibration testing systems may be capable of vibration testing very heavy and large objects like satellites.
The vibration testing apparatus typically comprises an electrodynamic vibrator or shaker, a power amplifier, a control system, cooling systems and appropriate power and signal cables interconnecting these components.
The moving elements of the vibration testing apparatus such as an armature coil, and its frame and bearings, and rollers (guidance system) are subject to wear, tear and fatigue as the electrodynamic shaker is operated. However, the amount of wear and tear is strongly dependent on the force produced by the payload on the electrodynamic shaker such that even a small increase of payload leads to a dramatic increase of the wear and tear of the shaker and a corresponding decrease of the remaining service life of the vibration testing apparatus. The electrodynamic shaker of the vibration test apparatus is designed to be repairable/over-hauled and kept in an operational condition through a pre-programmed system of planned service with fixed service intervals. The length of this service interval is typically estimated from the type/model of vibration testing apparatus and the expected usage pattern of the customer in question.
The determination of a remaining service life and availability of such vibration testing systems (VTS) has so far been achieved by service regimes based upon reactive observation of the behaviour of the vibration testing system in question. The regime of reactive observation means that malfunctions or errors of the vibration testing system that occur in-between the planned service intervals have only been detected and reported by the operator or user when obvious errors such as audible, tactile or visible anomalies in the function of the electrodynamic shaker are noticeable.
The fixed or pre-programmed service intervals lead to several problems for an optimal use and exploitation of existing vibration testing apparatuses and systems. One of these problems is a changing usage pattern of the vibration test apparatuses which deviates from the usage pattern employed to determine the length of the service interval. The customer may for example apply a higher payload to the electrodynamic shaker of the vibration testing apparatus than expected because new or modified equipment need to be vibration tested. The customer may also operate the electrodynamic shaker for much longer time periods than expected due to an increase of equipment production, or the introduction of more elaborate vibration testing protocols. Because the amount of wear and tear on movable components of the vibration test apparatuses, in particular the electrodynamic shaker, depend so strongly on the armature force these types of deviation from the expected usage pattern can on one hand lead to a much shorter service life than expected and therefore failure of the vibration testing apparatuses in-between the service intervals during use. On the other hand, if the shaker loading and accompanying armature force is smaller than expected, the time between the planned service intervals will be unnecessarily short and waste user resources and costs in connection with the operation of the vibration testing system and apparatus
Hence, it would be highly desirable to provide the users' of a vibration testing system and apparatus with a mechanism capable of estimating and informing various type of relevant personnel of the remaining service-life and/or the consumed service life of the vibration testing apparatus. The users may include service personnel and system operators.
The availability of information of the remaining service-life and/or the consumed service life of the vibration testing system and apparatus would improve production planning by preventing unexpected wear and tear induced failures and eliminate unnecessary and wasteful service or maintenance activities.
The remaining service-life and/or the consumed service life information could advantageously be displayed on a display/screen readily accessible to the relevant individuals such as service personnel, operators etc. This display could of course be attached to a housing of the vibration test apparatuses or be a located on a separate portable device, for example integrated in a smartphone or tablet, and therefore readable remotely from the vibration testing apparatus.
It would also be advantageous to indicate the remaining service-life and/or the consumed service life information in a straight forward and easily understandable format such as a meter or bar graph, e.g. resembling a car fuel meter/fuel gauge, of a graphical user interface of the display.